Miami Heat Still Hoping To Reach Another Level After Loss To Mavericks

Even though they are still tied for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat realize there is plenty room for improvement.

The Heat's five-game winning streak ended with Tuesday's loss to the Dallas Mavericks. They feel there is another level to reach before the postseason.

“I don’t think we are anywhere near where we want to be, and we don’t want to be there yet," guard Kyle Lowry said. "We’re only in February. We play for April, May and June. We want to be our best team in April, May and June. We don’t want to be at that high point of understanding of what we’re going to do. We have a good late-game package, but we’re only going to continue to get better in more situations like this.”

The Heat have one more game Thursday before the NBA All-Star break. With only Jimmy Butler and coach Erik Spoelstra participating in the event, it will be a much needed rest for the rest of the team.

“We know," forward Jimmy Butler said. "I feel that was a tad bit of a playoff style, basketball game atmosphere. It’s fun. Those are always the games that you want to play in. We know what we’re capable of. We know what we have to do. We know what we did not do tonight. We just can’t make that a constant thing night in and night out. We need to go out there and play better on the defensive end. We’ll make shots. I’m not worried about that. We have to pick up the effort on the defensive end.”

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